About UMAT

What is UMAT?

UMAT is an Undergraduate Medicine and Health Science Admission Test. This test is compulsory, because admission to majority of the universities which offer medicine or dentistry at undergraduate level in Australia and New Zealand requires students to submit their UMAT score as part of their application process. Apart from UMAT score students will also need their Year 12 (or Year 13 in New Zealand) academic results. If student's UMAT and academic results meet the eligibility criteria, then applicant will be offered medical interview, which is the final step of the selection criteria into medicine or dentistry.

When do you sit the UMAT?

The very first time you are eligible to sit the UMAT is during your final year of school. UMAT is held in July, this means you will sit the exam mid-way through Year 12 (or Year 13 in New Zealand). However, you can sit UMAT after completing your schooling as well. Regardless, whether you are repeating the UMAT, or decided that you wish to apply for undergraduate medicine or density at a later date. This also means that students who already finished school, and maybe even completed a different undergraduate degree, are still eligible to sit the UMAT. However, such postgraduate students should also consider sitting the Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT).

UMAT Structure and Content

Many students underestimate the UMAT and consider that it is just another academic assessment along the way to achieving their dream career in health sector. UMAT is not your typical high school or university exam. Research has shown that academic excellence does not necessarily equate to an outstanding UMAT result.

During the UMAT, students will undergo a highly controlled and specific 3 hour assessment made up of 134 Multiple Choice Questions and three specific constructs that assess a range of non-knowledge based skills and personal qualities.

UMAT Construct 1 ‘Logical Reasoning and Problem Solving’ questions covers a broad spectrum of logical and verbal reasoning, including understanding, critical thinking, thought content and organisation of thoughts. There are also a number of analytical reasoning type questions in this construct. Questions are in the written form but some questions may contain additional visual cues, e.g. a graph, table or figure.

UMAT Construct 2 ‘Understanding People’ questions made up of short conversational and situational scenarios between a range of characters. You will be asked to choose, from the four options provided, the one statement or word that best describes the feelings or actions of a character from the scenario. Some questions might be visual/picture format. This construct requires an intuitive understanding of the differences between emotions and feelings, the depths to how they can be depicted within the written form and an excellent understanding of the differences and definitions of key emotional words.

UMAT Construct 3 the ‘Non-verbal Reasoning’ questions simply ask you to complete a sequence of patterns or a diagram with the most logical option from the five choices offered. The type and style of these questions is virtually unlimited. Some questions though will also ask that you place a set of patterns firstly into their most logical order before selecting the required answer. This construct is divided into three styles of questions, known as, Next in Series, Missing Segment, and Middle of the Sequence.

UMAT is Administer by ACER

UMAT is conducted by an organisation known as ACER, Australian Council for Education Research. There is only one way to register for the UMAT, which is via the ACER website. You will need to read UMAT Information Booklet before registering for the exam. This guide usually published during early December.

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